The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania > Comments > "Review of The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania"
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- Don "Orfeo" Rechtman
- Username: Orfeo
- Location: Tucker, GA
- Joined PRX: Apr 14, 2004
Piece Information
- "The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania"
- Summary: "The Ring and I" is a story about the love affair between hundreds of thousands of people and one, colossal, controversial and awe-inspiring piece of work, Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung.
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Review of The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania
Don "Orfeo" Rechtman
Posted on April 15, 2004 at 09:18 AM
Attention-grabbing from the start, The Ring and I explores a little-understood musical aspect that almost unknowingly impacts American life across social and economical levels. From cartoons watched by impovished children to Met performances "graced" by the presence of debutantes, virtually all here have heard at least a segment of Wagnerian opera.
It is also honest in its presentation, including openly addressing Wagner's anti-Semitism.
The presentation is sufficiently broad-ranged to enrapt adult listeners (including professional musicians), yet is simple enough to warrant presenting to children as young as pre-teens. It achieves this by relating the music and story to modern music stories, especially the Ring Trilogy in the movies.
The gift of this presentation is that however stereotyped opera and especially Wagner's opera is in our minds, we are lifted beyond our prejudices to explore the possibilities his music has to enrich all our lives.